A personal blog about quilting, sewing and life as a mother. Lots of free tutorials including beginning quilting tutorials, binding tutorials, and other sewing projects like bags, quilt blocks and nursing covers.

And now that Christmas is over and the surprise has been givene, I am so excited to share what I’ve done with them! I put them together into a quilt for my Mother-in-Law. I added a couple of extra blocks to round it up to 16 blocks.

My husband’s parents and brothers recently retired and moved to Utah. They bought a house this fall and my mother-in-law has enjoyed painting and picking out colors for her new house. I wanted to make them a quilt for their new home and as the decorating progressed, I realized my quilt blocks were just the right colors. I’m happy to report she was thrilled with the quilt. There’s nothing like making a quilt for someone and seeing them love it. It doesn’t happen every time, so I don’t take that reaction for granted. It was a fun part of Christmas morning for me.

The layout of the quilt ended up being different that what I’d originally planned. When I started constructing what I thought I was going to do, it looked like a hideous mess to me. I wish now that I had taken pictures so you could see the improvement. Basically, I put multiple different colors of the setting squares around each block and then I was going to just sew the blocks together. It looked terrible and I started to panic.

So I thought about it for a while. I didn’t want to waste the setting triangles I’d already cut out because many of them came from some precious bits of fabric. So out came the seam ripper.

I decided to try putting one color (even though the fabrics were different) setting triangles around each block. That alone made a big difference. But the quilt was still too busy. There was no place for the eye to rest. Adding the sashing made the biggest difference. I chose a really pale blue dot as the sashing. I like that it’s neutral and spaces out the color, but because there’s a subtle pattern, it gives that ‘white’ space some texture. Then I added the red corner stones. They were the perfect punch of color to keep things lively. I think I squealed when it came together. (And I’m not normally a squeal-y person.) A HUGE improvement.

So lessons to share:– Don’t be afraid to pull out the seam ripper. It was a pain in the moment (a lot of times I’m too lazy) but I’m so glad I did. The outcome is much improved.– Neutral sashing can really tone down and unify a lot of busy prints and colors.

Every fabric in the quilt came from mystash. Yay! I did not buy any new fabrics to complete this quilt. Including the back and binding. I had this nice chunk of a Sandi HendersonMeadowsweet strawberry that was just right for the backing. It was really fun to use fabrics that I’ve collected and loved and put them all together in one quilt. Especially those vintagey-retro prints.

The quilting was done by Melissa of Sew Shabby Quilting. I mainly wanted an all-over stipple since the fabric and quilt design was already so busy. Melissa embellished with some cute flowers that tied it all together.

It’s fun to look at something so cheery now that blah, gray January is here. Fortunately this quilt lives close by so I can visit it often.

I’ve had thoughts of doing a similar project for a kind of Quilt-a-long from picking fabrics to finish. Obviously the pieced blocks would be different, but maybe a similar layout. Thoughts?

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Comments

Yes, double yes! I&#39;d love to do a quilt-a-long with you! Especially if we&#39;d start with picking fabrics. I always love your fabric choices, and that&#39;s still hard for me, as a rookie quilter. <br />This quilt turned out so beautiful!

Such a lovely quilt! Very bright and spring-like in those colours. And it&#39;s pretty great that you could shop your stash for the whole thing 😀 (Soooo easy just to buy that one more thing to make something perfect, isn&#39;t it?) <br /><br />(clumsy.chord(at)gmail.com)

I feel ya….seamripping isn&#39;t a fav thing to do but some times you gotta suck it up and do it! Good for you!<br /><br />Isn&#39;t it lovely to have family that totally appreciates all that goes into a quilt?:) It is also fab that your hubby&#39;s family is now enjoying their new home and it&#39;s close by!!:)<br /><br />Yep….you do and QA and I&#39;ll be there…you know I will!;)<br />xo

I love the block that could look like two kissing fish (row 3,column B or the third row down, second block in) I&#39;d love to make that one with an ocean themed fabric and the two light blue &quot;kissing fish&quot; with some pretty batik fabric.

I really love how you pulled this together! The sashing is perfect, the cornerstones are perfect, it all just fell together so well in the end!<br /><br />I don&#39;t know if I have time for a Quilt Along, but I would definitely enjoy reading about it!<br /><br />(And YAY for using stash fabric! I have several fabrics to back and bind, and I&#39;m determined to use as much stash as I can before I

This is an AMAZING quilt! I love the colors and the fabrics and the setting! Good job! I just love it! Thanks for sharing! I&#39;m a new follower and really love your work (can you tell)?<br /><br />Cheery wave from<br />Bev

Thanks so much for sharing your process – I adore what you went with for the setting triangles. It&#39;s just a wee bit different and really gives the quilt character. The red pops beautifully in the cornerstones too. It&#39;s a beautiful quilt, Amy!

It ended up really pretty. I can certainly understand why your MIL was happy Actually I just started putting my BOM blocks together today. I made two of each so I have 24. I thought the quilt along was so much fun….

Oh Amy what a lovely quilt and great story. I&#39;m so glad your quilt is appreciated and loved and that you can visit when you want – that has to be a bonus! I&#39;m in the process of making one for a colleague&#39;s mother, for her 80th birthday and am very keen to hear how it is received when the time comes.

Oh I LOVE it ! It is just so happy and the colors are bright and cheery without being obnoxious. I wish I were your MIL..LOL The aqua/blue outside boarder is just perfect..your quilt turned out beautifully!

Congratulations on a finish! I love how yours turned out. I still need to complete the last block and put mine in a setting. I made extra blocks each month, so will have to play with it a little still.

Great quilt. Your MIL must be really pleased to get it. I understand what you mean about the reaction. I when I give to someone who is under enthused with my quilting efforts, it makes me want to snatch it right back. Thanks for sharing.

Your blah grey Januaru looks very beautiful this particular day! Look at the gorgeous blue sky with snow topped mountains, and even storybook puffy white clouds! The quilt is gorgeous. I love the fabrics.

I absolutely *LOVE* this quilt Amy and have visited this page dozens of time, looking at your colors and placements.<br />I am actually planning my &quot;bees knees&quot; blocks a lot like yours, with the white sashing and red squares between. However my blue and yellow will be flip flopped because I have a yard of yellow and a half yard of blue and I want to use those two fabrics from my stash.

This kind of blows my socks off. So sweet and cherry. Very lucky MIL. Well, not only because of the quilt, but because of you for a DIL. It&#39;s interesting to read about the process you went through to get it to this point. It&#39;s just beautiful!

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Copyright 2008-2013 Amy Smart/DiaryofaQuilter.com. All photos and content are my own unless otherwise noted. I love when people link to or pin my content, only please cite the original post. Please do not reproduce or publish copies of my patterns and tutorials. Contact me with any questions or concerns. Thank you!